Mythology

By Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2013-07-09. Revised by Henrik Thiil Nielsen, 2023-04-05.

This page lists sources that interpret Robin Hood as a mythical (mythological) figure and sources that discuss or criticize such views.

Studies and criticism

• Dobson, R. B., ed.; Taylor, J., ed. Rymes of Robyn Hood: an Introduction to the English Outlaw (London, 1976), pp. 63-64. Important criticism of the mythologists' position
• Evans, Michael R. 'Robin Hood in the landscape: place-name evidence and mythology', in: Phillips, Helen, ed. Robin Hood: Medieval and Post-Medieval (Dublin, 2005), pp. 181-87
• Fitzgerald, David. 'Robin Hood and Robin Crusoe', The Antiquary, vol. XII (1885), pp. 137-43; Robin Hood in the glaring light of solar mythology
• Graves, Robert, ed. English & Scottish Ballads (London: Melbourne; Toronto, 1957), pp. xvi-xvii, 149-50,156, 158. To Graves popular ballads, including those of the Robin Hood cycle, were full of traces of the 'Old Religion'.
• Kennedy, D.N. 'Who was Robin Hood?', Folklore, vol. 66 (1955), pp. 413-415
• Kuhn, A. 'Wodan', Zeitschrift für Deutsches Alterthum, vol. 5 (1845), pp. 472-94
• Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. XXVII: Hindmarsh—Hovenden (New York; London, 1891)
  • Lee, Sir Sidney. 'Robin Hood', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 379-84
• Matthews, John; Carpenter, Richard, introd.; Potter, Chesca, contrib. Robin Hood: Green Lord of the Wildwood (Glastonbury, 1993)
  • Matthews, John. 'The Games of Robin Hood', in: Knight, Stephen, ed. Robin Hood: Anthology of Scholarship and Criticism (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 393-410
• Raglan, Lord. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (London, 1936). Ch. 4: "Robin Hood", pp. 47-56, argues that Robin Hood was a mythical character.
  • Raglan, Lord. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (The Thinker's Library, No. 133) (London, 1949). Ch. 4: "Robin Hood", pp. 46-55.
  • Raglan, Lord. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (Vantage Books, K32) (New York, 1956). Ch. 4: "Robin Hood", pp. 45-53. Not seen.
  • Raglan, Lord. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (Westport, Connecticut, 1975). Ch. 4: "Robin Hood", pp. 45-53.
  • Raglan, Lord. The Hero: A Study in Tradition, Myth, and Drama (Mineola, New York, 2003). Ch. 4: "Robin Hood", pp. 45-53. Not seen.
• Rodgers, Joseph. The Scenery of Sherwood Forest with an Account of Some Eminent People once resident there (London, 1908), pp. 21-52: 'Robin Hood', among other things discusses mythological interpretations of the Robin Hood character
  • Rodgers, Joseph. The Scenery of Sherwood Forest with an Account of Some Eminent People once resident there (New York, 1908). As preceding
• Saxonicus. 'The Name "Robert"', Notes & Queries, Series 1, vol. IV (1851), p. 272; asks how the name Robert and its various diminutives came to be connected with "so much diablerie"; cites examples, including Robin Hood and Robin Goodfellow, hobgoblins etc.
• Wright, Thomas. Essays on Subjects connected with the Literature, Popular Superstitions, and History of England in the Middle Ages (London, 1846), vol. II, pp. 164-211: 'On the popular cycle of the Robin Hood ballads'.

Brief mention

• Hungerford, Roy C. 'Archery and Magic', Journal of the Society of Archer-Antiquaries. vol. 10 (1967), pp. 6-11; see pp. 9, 10.

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